How Hollywood Borrowed from Soviet Movies

I don’t know for sure, whether it was deliberate plagiarism or simply another instance of coincidence, when Hollywood filmmakers imitated scenes from some Soviet movies.

«Илья Муромец» (Ilya Muromets, directed by Alexander Ptushko, produced by Mosfilm Studios, 1956) is an epic fantasy about Russian folk hero of the same name. As you can see in the attached video, the hero riding a horse looks like a forerunner of the similar scene in Conan the Barbarian (directed by John Milius, produced by Dino de Laurentiis Company and Universal Pictures, 1982).

«Казино» (Casino, directed by Samson Samsonov, produced by Mosfilm Studios, Kinkom and Soyuzkino, 1992) is a mystery crime film, based on James Hadley Chase’s novel Well now, my pretty… Not only its title, but also two scenes were repeated in Casino (directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Universal Pictures, Syalis DA, Légende Entreprises and De Fina-Cappa, 1995).

«Лох — победитель воды» (Dude Water Winner, directed by Arkadi Tigai, produced by Lenfilm Studios and Troitsky Most, 1991) is a crime thriller about a computer scientist, who fights gangsters. Not only its storyline, but also one scene were imitated to some extent in The Matrix (directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski, produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, Groucho II Film Partnership and Silver Pictures, 1999).